Falcons rally in fourth to fly past Chargers

Wednesday

Jan 30, 2013 at 12:20 AMJan 30, 2013 at 12:46 PM

Falcons score 18 straight to down Chargers

Erich Murphy

It seemed Tri-Point had all the momentum heading into the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's nonconference boys' basketball game against host Flanagan-Cornell. But the Falcons had other ideas. Flanagan-Cornell scored the first 18 points of the final frame to rout the Chargers 60-49. The Falcons were able to stymie The Point with a combination of good defense and methodical offense. "We didn't turn the ball over as many times as we usually do and I think that helped," FCHS head coach Brian Yoder said. "You take care of the ball and play a little defense you're going to be OK." Flanagan-Cornell had led by one point after each of the first two periods, but found itself down 38-35 after the third quarter. It took 85 seconds to rectify the situation. Jonathan Barth hit a 3-pointer to tie the game 57 seconds into the period and Matt Harrison scored inside 28 seconds later to put the Falcons ahead 40-38. Although most of the couple hundred people on hand may have expected a shootout down the stretch, it did not materialize, mainly because the Falcons did not let it. The defense created turnovers and limited the Chargers to one-shot trips. The offense was taking care of the ball and, whether by design not, running the clock effectively. Tri-Point got a timeout with 5:42 left in the game after a turnover. The Falcons tried to work its offense but only ran 55 seconds off the clock before calling timeout. Barth buried another 3-pointer and Harrison scored five points as the lead grew to 48-38 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. "I think we picked up the intensity and played pretty well," Yoder said. "I think Matt touched the ball about four times and the freshman Barth hit two big 3s." Tri-Point's Justin Cox found himself doing something he didn't want when the Falcons began to pull away. "We talked during the (Flanagan-Cornell) timeout that we're going to have to extend and chase a little bit," Cox said. "We knew with the big boy inside we didn't want to give up easy layups. That's what ended up happening, giving him easy points at the end." Harrison scored nine points in the fourth quarter as the Chargers extended the defense in order force Flanagan-Cornell's offense into making mistakes. Tri-Point didn't score in the final frame until Nathan Hoffman nailed a 3-pointer with 1:17 left. By then the Falcons had built a 15-point advantage. Cox bemoaned his team's recent woes in a five-game losing streak and pointed out that he got a good game from his kids over the first three quarters. He said he is looking for four good quarters to get out of the current funk. The game was a tight battle for three periods. The Falcons had a seven-point lead a couple of times in the first quarter, but the Chargers trimmed the margin to 16-15 after a three-point play from Jordan Tharp and a nifty drive through the paint from Ryan DeFord. Brandon Barton hit a 3, Alec Dutko made a free throw and Harrison scored inside as the Falcons held a 22-17 edge with 4:18 left in the first half. Tri-Point responded with Tharp deuce and a Kyle Moritz 3-pointer to knot the game at 22-22. Tharp then got a steal and raced the length of the floor for a layup and the Chargers' first lead at 24-22. Barth buried his first triple of the night to give the Falcons a 25-24 halftime lead. Harrison scored off a lob 15 seconds into the third quarter, but Tri-Point responded quickly with another Moritz trey and a free throw from DeFord that gave the Chargers a 28-27 lead. The Falcons were leading 31-28 when The Point rattled off eight points over a four-minute span that gave the visitors a 36-31 lead. Tharp had a free throw and a 3-pointer in the run, and added a 17-footer as time expired to give the Chargers a 38-35 lead entering the fateful fourth frame. Harrison finished with 19 points in pacing Flanagan-Cornell (13-10). Chad Gundy added 12 and Barth netted 9 markers. Tanner Bertsche had 6 points. "Toward the end of the season you hope to be playing your best and we're going to try to string together five or six and give ourselves a chance to win," Yoder said. Tharp had 16 points for the Chargers (11-12). Moritz checked in with 11 and DeFord collected 9 points. Josh Flessner had 5 points.